Fortuitous Events

A "fortuitous event" can have either positive or negative consequences. So Habakkuk was to learn.

"Billionaire Dies at a Fortuitous Time."

That was the headline of a 2010 article in the journal of the American Bar Association.

It invites the question, "Is there really a fortuitous time to die?"

It's likely, however, that lawyers — the readers of the ABA journal — understood precisely the implications of that headline. Unlike the general population that usually understands a "fortuitous event" to mean a "fortunate event," or a stroke of good luck, attorneys know that in legalese the word goes back to its original meaning applying to "an unforeseen event that occurs by chance or accident from natural or man-made forces over which an affected person has no control. A fortuitous event can have either positive or negative consequences."

Whether positive or negative, fortuitous events are not something within our control. In that regard, they're much like what insurance companies mean when they label a freak occurrence as "an act of God" — an instance of uncontrollable...